Bihar, still reeling from the damage caused by floods this monsoon, has decided to use an innovative American technology to tackle the flood menace. The state government will seek technological help from the United States to plug the breaches in embankments and roads caused by floods.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar has directed the State Water Resources Department Secretary A K Sinha to contact the US Department of Homeland Security, which has adopted the technology successfully and has already operationalised a project based on it, sources in the chief minister's office said on Friday. Kumar took the decision after watching a video depicting the technology in action.

"Nitish Kumar is keen to use the US technology to minimise the effect of the floods in the state," official sources said.

According to official sources, the idea to adopt this technology was suggested by the high-level specialist committee headed by national flood commission's former chief engineer Nilendu Sanyal. The committee -- constituted on August 31 by the state government to suggest immediate short and long term strategies to control flood -- submitted its first interim report to the chief minister on Monday.

The technology was first developed by the US Department of Defence. It involves use of prefabricated dams made of metal tripods and self -filling water bladders of high strength polymers. These will be airdropped to urgently repair breaches in embankments and roads.